Julie Steinberg | Preparing for Boomsday

The federal government is in trouble. No, not for the usual litany of reasons concerning diplomatic blunders abroad, lack of unilateral credibility or a skyrocketing deficit. This time, it's about Boomsday - the looming retirement of thousands of baby boomers from the government. By 2040, over 66 percent of the federal workforce will have retired - and right now, we don't have the manpower to replace them.

It's no secret that working for the government ranks low on graduates' to do lists after college.

A 2007 Career Services survey of that year's graduating class reported that only 6 percent of College graduates joined the government in some capacity. Compare that number to the hordes of students who rushed to financial services and consulting: an astonishing 46 percent of respondents.

The distaste for government jobs doesn't come simply from soporific AP gov classes and the pessimism generated by Jon Stewart and Co. Rather, universities - Penn in particular - need to work with federal agencies to generate positive ad campaigns that will capture student interest. Graduates aren't turning to public service because this option isn't being made public enough.

It's true that the public service track is often a convoluted one. There's the distinction between civil service and foreign service, which applicants must choose. Trying to understand the hierarchy in one federal agency alone is confusing enough to send seniors running to the safety of their nearest JPMorgan branch.

The pre-professional atmosphere doesn't restrict itself to Wharton students. In increasing numbers, College Economics and International Relations majors are finding jobs in the private sector with almost the same ease.

"Wharton students aren't the only ones who get accepted to financial services positions," director of Career Services Patricia Rose said. "Your major is not your career; College students are having just as much success."

While such advice might be comforting to College students without financial backgrounds, it's worrisome that so many talented graduates are being siphoned off to the investment banks, without considering organizations like the Department of the Treasury or the Office of Management and Budget.

While investment banks are able to attract students by stressing the fast-paced, well-paid lifestyle, federal agencies aren't attacking with the same gusto.

They need to present the public sector as an equally enticing option by focusing on its upward mobility and gratifying experience.

"I'm positive there are hundreds of students interested in government work," said College senior Daniel Tavana, a Truman Scholar who must commit to public service after graduate school as part of his scholarship. "But with student loans piling up, it's hard to resist the allure of the private sector right after graduating."

Tavana, who worked for the Department of Defense this past summer, is also a Federal Service Student Ambassador with the Partnership for Public Service, an organization that seeks to inspire younger generations to work for the government. He hopes to further these goals on Penn's campus by holding events that make students realize how much the government needs them.

But even with Tavana's hard work, without additional encouragement, public service won't appeal to a generation that's been hard-wired to memorize case interview prep books. While the desire for high incomes to pay off student loans is both undeniable and irreproachable, sometimes it pays off to work in the public sector first before turning to the private one.

"A benefit for private sector employers are the credentials you may obtain while working for the feds, like top-secret security clearance, which can get you a job in the private sector starting at $200,000," said Deirdre Martinez, director of the Fels Public Policy Internship Program. "A number of Penn alumni I have met in Washington have zigzagged between public and private and have advanced much faster than peers who stayed in one track or the other."

The youth activism inspired by the 2008 election can't sputter after a new president takes up his mantle.

We have to be prepared to fix an aging (and ailing) government by assuming positions of responsibility - starting now.

Julie Steinberg is a College senior from Canada. Her e-mail is steinberg@dailypennsylvanian.com. That's What She Said appears alternating Tuesdays.

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